Centromeres organize (epi)genome architecture

In some plants and animals, microtubules attach across the length of the chromosome in mitosis, forming a holocentromere instead of a single centromeric locus. A new study in Cell shows that in the holocentric beak sedge Rhynchospora, holocentromeres also impact genomic architecture, epigenome organization, and karyotype evolution.

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Bacteriophages benefit from mobilizing pathogenicity islands encoding immune systems against competitors

Phage-inducible chromosomal islands (PICIs) are highly mobile genetic elements that not only provide a diversity of defense systems in gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, but can also be induced by a helper phage to protect that helper phage and the bacterial host from competing phages and other mobile genetic elements. This reveals a complex...

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Scientific communication on TikTok

Abbie Richards is an active scientific communicator on TikTok who posts videos to communicate climate science and to combat misinformation. Cell editor Jia Cheng chatted with Abbie Richards to get her viewpoint on scientific communication through social media. Annotated excerpts from this conversation are presented below, and the full conversation is...

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Non-canonical odor coding in the mosquito

Humans produce a complex blend of odor cues that attract female mosquitoes, and these cues are typically detected by olfactory neurons expressing a single receptor. In female Aedes aegypti mosquitos, however, many of these neurons co-express multiple chemosensory receptors directly affecting mosquito behavior and challenging the canonical one-receptor-to-one-neuron...

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Pride in STEM worldwide

Cell asked LGBTQ+ scientists around the world about how their identity shapes their experiences in STEM. Here we share six unique perspectives of researchers highlighting how their area of expertise, research focus, institutions, and geographical location shape their experiences. We thank them for sharing their voices and continued efforts toward making...

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Structure of a fully assembled tumor-specific T cell receptor ligated by pMHC

Cryo-EM structural analysis of a T cell receptor (TCR) complex bound to a tumor-specific human class I pMHC indicates the functional impact of connecting peptides and sterol lipid for complex assembly and suggests that TCR signaling may be triggered without spontaneous structural rearrangements.

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Organizations in science and medicine must hold each other accountable for discriminatory practices

Many organizations persist in working with others that engage in known, remediable structural discrimination. We name this practice interorganizational structural discrimination (ISD) and argue it is a pivotal contributor to inequities in science and medicine. We urge organizations to leverage their relationships and demand progress from collaborators.

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From rare disorders of immunity to common determinants of infection: Following the mechanistic thread

Inborn errors associated with rare susceptibility to weakly virulent agents illuminate fundamental immunopathological mechanisms of disease.

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Scent of a human: The mosquito olfactory system defies dogma to ensure attraction to humans

Mosquitoes are strongly attracted to humans, and their bites not only cause intense itch but can beget severe diseases. In this issue of Cell, Herre et al. reveal that non-canonical olfactory circuit organization and coding likely endow mosquitoes with a robust ability to locate human hosts.

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Harnessing social media to challenge scientific misinformation

Benjamin Rein is a neuroscience postdoctor at Stanford University and also a scientific communicator on TikTok. He and his colleagues in social media wrote the open letter to Spotify to combat scientific misinformation. In this Stories, Benjamin Rein tells us his story, thoughts, and lessons learned from publishing the open letter.

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